34 Darbishike, Lazvs of Heredity 



APPENDIX A to p. 26. 



It is interesting to enquire what Galton himself said when he 

 formulated his Law, on the subject of its applicabihty to individual 

 cases. He said ('97, p. 403) "It should be noted that nothing 

 in this statistical law contradicts the generally accepted view that 

 the chief, if not the sole, line of descent runs from germ to germ 

 and not from person to person. The person may be accepted 

 on the whole as a fair representative of the germ, and, being so, 

 the statistical laws which apply to the persons would apply to 

 the germs also, though with less precision in individual cases. 

 Now this law is strictly consonant with the observed binary sub- 

 divisions of the germ cells, and the concomitant extrusion and 

 loss of one-half of the several contributions from each of the 

 two parents to the germ-cell of the offspring." Mark his words, 

 " . . . . though with less precision in individual cases " — the 

 itaUcs are mine. If one were referring to Gallon's Law (in the 

 form in which it is true of masses only) one would say, " . . . . 

 without applying at all to individual cases"; and if to the Law 

 of Contribution, " . . . . with absolute precision to individual 

 cases." But I may be interpreting this wrongly, for the " less " 

 may refer not to the difference between population and individual, 

 but to the difference between person and germ. And, in fact, I 

 think the following quotation from the previous page ('97, P- 402) 

 justifies us in concluding that Galton conceived his Law as being 

 true solely of masses without being true of the component 

 individuals. " The neglect of individual prepotencies is justified 

 in a law that avowedly relates to average results ;...." At 

 any rate it simplifies matters very much to consider that Galton's 

 Law as he formulated it is true of masses only, and not of their 

 component units ; for if we do not, we have to keep three laws 

 distinct in our minds. 



I. Galton's Law as he formulated it : true of masses, but 

 also, though with less precision, of individuals. Statistical 

 and Physiological. 



